Monday, December 30, 2013

Political turmoil costs Turkey $100 billion: Govt spokesman

The political turmoil in Turkey sparked by a high-profile corruption
and bribery probe has cost the country's economy $100 billion, the
deputy prime minister said on Monday.

"We are talking about damage of over $100 billion," Bulent Arinc, also
government spokesman, said in televised remarks after the first cabinet
meeting since a reshuffle last week.

The political crisis engulfing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has cost the economy $100 billion, a top official said Monday,
as financial markets rebounded after days in freefall.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said a sweeping corruption probe
that has shaken the core of Erdogan's adminstration was a "plot aimed at
tarnishing Turkey's prestige at home and abroad", a frequent government
refrain since the scandal erupted.

"We are talking about damage of over $100 billion," Arinc said after
Turkey's first cabinet meeting since a major reshuffle last week forced
by the resignation of three ministers over the probe.

Turkey had been seen as a model of democracy in the Muslim world and an
emerging economic power but the crisis sent its currency and shares
plunging.
However, the battered financial markets bounced back Monday.

The lira rallied to 2.1239 against the dollar after hitting a record
low of 2.17 last week as Erdogan faced mass protests and growing calls
to resign.

The Istanbul stock exchange surged 6.42 percent.

Erdogan, struggling to keep his grip on power after 11 years as the
country's almost unassailable strongman, has vowed he would survive what
he has branded a "dirty" plot to try to topple him.
A string of public figures including high-profile businessmen and the
sons of three ministers were rounded up on December 17 over allegations
of bribery for construction projects as well as illicit money transfers
to sanctions-hit Iran.

Local media reports have also suggested his son Bilal may face investigation.
It is the worst crisis since June when Erdogan faced a month of mass
street demonstrations against what critics said was his increasingly
authoritarian rule and attempts to impose his Islamic values on society.

Erdogan named 10 new ministers -- almost half the cabinet -- after his
interior, economy and environment ministers stepped down last week
following the detention of their sons.

The turmoil has exposed rifts within his own Justice and Development
Party (AKP) and a power struggle with an influential US-based Muslim
cleric, Fethullah Gulen.

It has also sullied the reputation of his party which took office in
2002 with a pledge to root out corruption and which takes its name from
AK -- meaning "clean" and "pure" in Turkish.

The government has suggested that Gulen loyalists, who wield
considerable influence in the police and judiciary, were forcing the
corruption inquiry to undermine Erdogan in the runup to the March
elections.

"This operation is an assassination attempt ahead of elections," new
Interior Minister Efkan Ala was quoted as saying by pro-government Sabah
daily.
"This is almost a coup to topple the government."

Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since
1999 after being accused of plotting to form an Islamic state, has
denied involvement in the corruption probe.

Neither Gulen nor his Hizmet (Service) movement has "any hostility"
towards the government, according to the Journalists and Writers
Foundation, a non-profit group of which Gulen is honorary president.

It voiced "deep concerns" over what it said were the authoritarian
tendencies of the AKP, and rejected allegations that Gulen's movement
was acting on behalf of foreign powers to establish a parallel state as
"ugly slander".

"It is obvious that in Turkey any government involved in corruption... has lost trust and credibility," it said in a statement.

Erdogan's government has ordered the sacking of dozens of police chiefs
linked to Gulen or who oversaw sweeping raids on December 17 that saw
the detention of dozens of people including the ministers' sons and
high-profile businessmen.

Among those charged with bribery is Suleyman Aslan, the chief executive
of Turkey's state-owned Halkbank, which is accused of being involved in
illegal gold sales to Iran in return for energy imports.

"It is the first time in the history of the Turkish republic that a
prime minister is defending thieves. How can someone who defends thieves
be prime minister," said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the opposition
Republican People's Party.

Anti-government demonstrators have taken to brandishing shoeboxes at
anti-government protests after $4.5 million in cash was found stashed in
boxes in Aslan's home.

Turkey's once powerful military, the self-declared guardian of the
secular state which has launched three coups, has said it would not get
involved in the latest crisis.

Since taking office, the Islamic-rooted government has reined in the
military with a series of court cases against top army brass.

An AKP lawmaker suggested at the weekend that the government could
change the law to pave the way for retrials of hundreds of convicted
army officers but Arinc said Monday such a move was not on the agenda.

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